The Credits: Writer/director Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu continues his streak of delivering singular, stunning cinematic spectacles that have ranged in scale from the terrifyingly intimate (The Witch) to psychotically intimate (The Lighthouse) to the rousingly epic (The Northman). With Nosferatu, Eggers has found perhaps the perfect material for his sensibilities—rich in detail, steeped in myth, and drenched in pathos, with each sequence building upon the last in this delicious gothic nightmare.
4 comments:
As someone obsessed with how things are built in movies, I'm really glad I got to read this article. I saw Nosferatu in theatres over break with some friends, and during that watch I was fascinated with the set. Everything was done with such care and detail, it rapidly transferred me to late 1800s Germany. I was particularly interested to see how they did the buildings and streets, since they seemed so real and solid. As it turns out, they were! I really liked getting to hear about how the production designer really wanted them to each have it's own individual look and feel. It's something that I think really showed through the big screen. When watching, I thought that they had just perhaps found a small town built in the 1800s and just covered up the modern stuff. I would jump at any chance to visit the set and walk the streets. I'm also very curious to learn more about the 'Tattoo Wall' product that was brought up, and I wonder if it would have any uses in live theater.
I loved reading this article. Just recently, I learned what it means to be a production designer and after learning about it, it’s a career I’m interested in post-grad. I loved hearing about all of the research that went into recreating such a unique time period. I also loved reading about how he built the castle, especially the materials. It’s like theatre, where we scavenge for materials across industries. Craig Lathrop put a lot of thought into every aspect of this film, even with the props. I was really moved when he said that “there’s some little details you’ll never see.” I think that’s really cool, but also shows the dedication Lathrop has. TV/film’s work is shown by a product confined to the edges of the screen you’re watching it on. Knowing that there’s stuff people won’t get to see within the movie makes the film even more impressive and really shows how good of a designer he is.
I saw Nosferatu over Christmas break and I absolutely LOVED it. There were several moments throughout the movie that had me wondering about the production design, so I'm very glad I saw this article. The set was one of the biggest highlights of the movie imo, because every single aspect of the physical world the characters inhabited fit the tone and the purpose of the scene beautifully. One one hand I am surprised that so much of the set was built rather than filmed on historical locations because of how detail rich every place was, but on the other hand that doesn't surprise me at all. With how precisely different areas enhanced the acting and directing choices- from the uneven castle tiles to the slope of the streets in Wisborg- it would be stranger if those aspects weren't custom built.
Being a production designer always seems like such a daunting task to me because how does someone create a whole world from just a script. Everything from the design process to the build process just seems like a whole different world to me. Even thinking about the funds and all the work that goes into making this set just makes my head hurt. I often forget that in a world of CGI, sets still need to be built. Another thing that makes me think about the amount of waste that goes into these productions. With each set that is built also means that the set has to be torn down and it creates a lot of pollution and waste into the world. I wonder if there is a way to preserve these sets and turn them into amusement parks or somehow repurpose them in other ways. Obviously, that’s not going to be a possibility but I just wish there was some way where waste wasn’t as big of an issue as it is within our industry.
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